Generation 3 Reference Standard Solar Radiation Shield for Temperature Sensors

Cutaway of the Gen 3 MeteoShield Pro with Vaisala HMP155 temperature sensor and additional temperature probe inside.

Sometimes the best gets better, which is the case with the only helical solar radiation shield for weather station temperature sensors. Listening to feedback from its customers in Antarctica, the Death Valley, and the Sahara, BARANI DESIGN Technologies has brought the last few remaining improvements to the already class-leading helical MeteoShield® Professional.

This new 3rd generation (Gen 3) naturally ventilated solar radiation shield features improved reflected light control from snow-covered or solar-heated ground while maintaining the high air flow rates, which is the number one factor guaranteeing measurement quality. Additionally, solar-powered artificial fan ventilation is available for the rare, less than 0.5 m/s (1.1mph) wind conditions, where all naturally ventilated solar shields show some signs of solar heating.

While these improvements may seem subtle to the naked eye, their combined effect reduces the already class-leading measurement uncertainty in all weather conditions to below 0.1°C, far below even many fan-ventilated solar screen counterparts.

This August in Chicago, BARANI DESIGN Technologies will be exhibiting and looking for B2B partnerships for the USA, Canada, and Mexico markets at the Meteorological Technology World Expo North America. This B2B expo will be at the Stephens Convention Center in Chicago on August 31 and September 1, 2022.

BARANI DESIGN Technologies s. r. o.
Klincova 35
821 08 Bratislava, SLOVAKIA
tel: +421 948 067 125
sales@baranidesign.com

This press release can also be found at: https://www.openpr.com/news/2693549/gen-3-reference-standard-solar-radiation-shield-for-temperature

Will LoRaWAN kill NB-IoT in stationary sensor applications?

For autonomous sensor Applications, device cost rises with increasing data rates and increasing range due to higher power and battery requirements.

While NB-IoT has its advantages, the low-cost of LoRaWAN gateways may significantly stun its growth, especially in meteorological and agricultural sensor applications.

The advantage of NB-IoT stemmed from the apparent fact that NB-IoT sensors operate in a licensed radio frequency band with lower radio noise pollution than the free radio frequency bands of LoRaWAN or Sigfox devices. Yet this potential data transmission reliability advantage is discounted by LoRa’s higher sensitivity, higher resistance to interference, and by low RF noise levels in non-metropolitan areas. NB-IoT’s use of licensed frequency bands adds ceiling-less recurring data subscription charges for each deployed sensor.

Additionally, NB-IoT sensors and devices use UDP data transfer protocol which does not guarantee data delivery to the server or data security like SFTP or HTTPS protocols do. All these factors level the playing field and may give the upper hand to LoRaWAN sensors and devices in terms of sensor data delivery reliability and in mission-critical applications.

Total cost advantage of LoRaWAN

With the latest generation of LoRaWAN gateways available for sub $100 USD and the added affordability of running one’s own LoRaWAN server through providers like The Things Industries, the case is clear for LoRaWAN in terms of affordable wide-area wireless sensor networks as required for agriculture and environmental research. Lower cost of LoRaWAN gateways, advantages of LoRaWAN’s star-on-star network topology, and simple gateway deployment scenario minimize upfront investment together, and most of all, minimize recurring data subscription charges.

It is important to understand that gateways that support and operate on the LoRaWAN LoRa Basics™ Station protocol offer superior reliability in terms of data delivery reliability. While the LoRa Basics™ Station protocol consumes more bandwidth on a Wifi, Ethernet or LTE data connection, it operates on the HTTPS protocol to guarantee data security and reliability that UDP cannot.

Opportunity where LTE and NB-IoT coverage ends

For areas on the edge of 3G/4G/LTE/NB-IoT coverage which are commonly found in agricultural applications, simple and highly affordable plug-&-play LoRaWAN solutions combining LTE modems with LoRaWAN gateways offer hard to beat sensor network solutions for weak wireless coverage areas. As an example, the solution offered by BARANI DESIGN Technologies for professional WMO quality environmental monitoring in Africa, USA, Canada, Mexico, Asia, Australia, and South America combines a preconfigured TTIF LoRaWAN Femto gateway or a Wifx Lorix One outdoor gateway with either a MIKROTIK RouterBOARD wAP LTE kit or a MIKROTIK RouterBOARD SXT LTE6 kit.

MeteoAG Leaf Wetness Sensor for Agricultural Applications

MeteoAG leaf wetness sensor provides high reliability data on leaf wetness and surface air temperature to predict frost damage to crops.

While the BARANI DESIGN Technologies wireless agricultural weather stations are seeing record installations in 2020, we have been hard at work to finalize the latest addition to our modular agricultural weather station sensor set.

Along side soil water tension sensors, soil water content sensors and soil temperature sensors, the MeteoAG wireless agricultural node will also provide critical leaf wetness data along with near surface air temperature data essential to monitoring late autumn and spring frost events.

The final testing phase of MeteoAG has started and will continue throughout December and over the Christmas holidays in preparation for the start of the 2021 farming season.